Thomas (Tom) A. Dine was educated at Colgate University (B.A., 1962), University of California/Los Angeles (M.A.) and Johns Hopkins University (M.A.)

Dine, whose brother is the pop artist Jim Dine, was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines in 1962-1964. He was a Senior Analyst for the United States Senate Special Committee on National Emergencies and Delegated Powers in 1973-1974. Following this, he worked as for the Senate Budget Committee in 1975-1978. In 1979-1980, he was an advisor to Senator Edmund Muskie on nuclear weapons policy and the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, and a defense and foreign policy advisor to Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

He came to prominence as Executive Director of AIPAC in 1980-1993. In 1993-1997, he worked mac makeup kit for U.S. Agency for International Development, as the Assistant Administrator for Europe and the New Independent States (NIS). Subsequently, based in Prague, he was the longest-serving director of Radio Free Europe, a post he left in November 2005 to become Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco.